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The first major milestone of President Bush's tort reform agenda offers little meaningful relief for the hospital industry. The Class Action Fairness Act of 2005, which passed easily through Congress and was signed into law on February 18, 2005, is an attempt to curb perceived abuses in the system of class action litigation. The act contains protections for both consumers and industry members. On the consumer side, the act targets large, negotiated class action settlements that provide little or no real benefit to the class members but generate large attorney fee awards for the class action counsel.